


The Wolf That Wins Is The One You Feed

by gothiccheezit



Series: The Wolf That Wins [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blood and Gore, Defense Against the Dark Arts Position Curse, Defense Professors Die, Defense Professors Go Missing, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Self Inserty, Tags will be edited as their first year progresses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21596251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gothiccheezit/pseuds/gothiccheezit
Summary: What if there was another Marauder? One forgotten by time, with the help of a few memory charms. What if he was a well-kept secret, hidden deep in the minds of his closest friends. One kept hidden away by forces beyond the so-called Dark Lords comprehension?What if he had a family. A brother, a father, a mother.What if he was Remus's godbrother? A werewolf just like him? More sensitive than any of the others?A Sacrifice for the Greater Good, but Greater than Grindelwald could have strived for. A Good that was truly pure, not in blood, but in intention.Someone to bind those who would fall away from each other out of jealousy or spite.Someone to truly protect those who deserve it. To break spells that should never have existed. To predict without knowing.Someone trustworthy.Lyall may not be all those things yet, but he'll certainly try.
Relationships: none as of yet
Series: The Wolf That Wins [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556437





	The Wolf That Wins Is The One You Feed

_Professor Dumbledore,_

_Due to unfortunate circumstances, Lyall Canis will be unable to attend Hogwarts in the future. Please remove him from the list._

_Sincerely,_

_Adolphus & Venus Canis _

  
  


Professor Dumbledore sighed, sitting back and comparing the letters from two separate sets of parents. Lyall Canis and Remus Lupin. Such similar names in their meaning. He supposed he'd have to visit both families to see just _why_ the children wouldn't be attending. Perhaps he could convince their families otherwise.

  
  
  


A knock at the door of Moonhaven Manor alerted the inhabitants to the presence of something they never got; A visitor. The older male in the room, his hair a dark and ash-flecked black, shot a look at his seen-but-not-heard sons before answering the door, his golden-brown eyes wary. He greeted the man at the door, whose blue eyes twinkled.

"Greetings, Adolphus, may I come in?" the man asked.

"Of course, Professor Dumbledore. We weren't expecting you, so pardon any messes."

The idea that there had ever been a mess in this house was surprising and unbelievable, but the white-haired old man said nothing of it.

"Ah, well. I came to inquire as to why Lyall would not be attending Hogwarts. May I assume he is being sent to Beauxbatons?" the headmaster of Hogwarts asked.

"Er, no, he is not. I'm intending to school him here, in the safety of our own home."

Dumbledore rose an eyebrow. "Surely not because of the trouble brewing on the horizon? There is no place safer than Hogwarts."

Adolphus shook his head. "It's simply safer for everyone if-"

"If he were to remain isolated."

"I- Yes."

Professor Dumbledore examined a photograph on the mantle. "Because of the Lycanthropy."

The boy who was being spoken of froze in his work at the table in the sitting room, looking at his father with a scared look.

"How-"

"You remember Lyall Lupin from your days in school, yes? Of course you do, you named your son after him. What a lovely Norse name. Fitting, for your family, isn't it? Did you know he and his wife have a son your older boy's age? He was bitten several days after his fifth birthday, I believe. In the town you all lived in. I'm sure they don't remember each other now, of course."

Adolphus blanched. "You're not going to tell-"

"No, no, Adolphus. You know me better than that. Lyall can come to Hogwarts. Remus will be there as well, and we are setting up arrangements for them as we speak. That is… If Lyall wants to go?"

The old man looked to the desk where the young boy was sitting, his wild, dirty-blonde hair sticking up at every angle and his honey brown eyes hopeful. The boy nodded eagerly, shooting a pleading look in his father's direction.

Adolphus sighed, nodding. "Fine, if you can keep the secret and protect other students, I see no reason why not."

Lyall grinned and ran off to tell his mother while Dumbledore smiled pleasantly and sat to explain, in-depth, the arrangements.

  
  
  


"Did you remember your parchments? Your quills? Your robes?" A woman with curly, dark blonde hair and slate grey eyes asked, for the fourth time, of her son.

"Yes, mother," the boy sighed, exasperation seeping into his tone.

"Alright, alright, you can get on the train now."

"Okay, love you, mum!" He hugged her and started running off.

"And Lyall?"

"Yes, mother?"

"I love you, sweetheart."

Lyall rolled his eyes, grinning, and ran off, luggage shrunk down in his pocket. He boarded the train and immediately headed for the back, sliding open the compartment door and quickly shoving himself into a corner, not noticing the other boy in the compartment until he let out a squeak.

"Oh, hi. I didn't see you in here. Uh. I can leave?" The pureblood manners that had been drilled into him practically melting away in the presence of someone his age.

The other boy shook his head, his green-turning-amber eyes scanning the blonde in front of him. Lyall shrugged, taking out his luggage and unshrinking it on the luggage rack, then pulled a book out of his robes pocket and started reading.

"I'm Lyall, by the way. Lyall Canis."

"Remus Lupin," the other boy murmured.

After about a minute, thundering footsteps made their way down the hall and two heads of black hair popped in.

"Mind if we sit here? Bit crowded elsewhere," the one with hair more unruly than Lyall's normally was asked.

Lyall and Remus both shrugged, and the two other boys came into the compartment, closing the door behind them. Lyall wound up next to the boy with unruly hair, while the other boy, whose black hair was in silky curls, sat next to Remus.

Luckily, no one else came in, but the two other boys, whose names were James (the boy with unruly hair and round glasses) and Sirius (Lyall knew him from somewhere, but where?), were both rowdy as all hell. Lyall occasionally joined in on their antics, but mostly kept to his book. Remus, of course, ignored all three of them.

When they arrived at Hogsmeade station, they all followed the other first-years to the boats, piling into one all together. Sirius and James acted the part of pirates, even getting Lyall to join towards the end, while Remus watched them all, amusement in his eyes. Lyall's hair, which had managed to escape the clutches of Sleekeazy's five minutes into the train ride, got tangled in the curtain of ivy, so their boat stopped and Remus had to help detangle it before they could continue. Lyall loved all the glittering crystals and sent pulses of magic through his wand towards them. The crystals glowed faintly golden for a minute and then stopped.

They climbed up a set of stairs, the large man ahead of them knocked on the doors, and they were let into the Entrance Hall. The students babbled with nervous excitement after Professor McGonagall told them of the houses. Lyall's parents were hoping he'd get into Ravenclaw or Slytherin, and Lyall was leaning towards Ravenclaw at first, but the idea of being found out warned him away from that.

Finally, they were let in to be sorted. The first few people, Lyall mostly ignored, but when 'Black, Sirius' was called, Lyall paid his full attention. Sirius had been whining on the train that his family was all in Slytherin and he didn't want to be, so Lyall crossed his fingers and hoped that Sirius wouldn't be in Slytherin.

There was a tense quiet when he didn't immediately go to Slytherin, and when the hat finally shouted out "GRYFFINDOR!" the whole hall froze. A few seconds later, outraged whispers erupted at the Slytherin table, and life seemed to come back to the hall. A few Gryffindors clapped, and Sirius skipped the whole way to the table, a huge grin on his face.

When Lyall's name was called, there were hushed whispers. Lyall's mom's side was famous for being Slytherins, as well as Purebloods, and their line was German and African, but his dad's side (minus his father) were famous for being Ravenclaws, and their Norse and Scottish Pureblood heritage. But Lyall suspected that that wasn't all they were whispering about. He saw a few pitying looks here and there and realized a lot of them must have thought he was underfed.

As Lyall sat on the stool, he called upon his etiquette lessons and made sure to keep his posture straight, a confident look on his face. The hat was placed on his head and he relished in the darkness.

_Ah, a werewolf? How interesting. I can see that you'd do well in Ravenclaw, and perhaps you could have been there in another life, but... you know what might happen._

_'Yes, I'm quite aware.'_

_Takes quite a bit of bravery to go through those transformations every full moon, doesn't it?_

_'I guess so.'_

_Yes, you've certainly got guts. Cunning too, yes, but bravery seems to be stronger in you. Well, little pup, better be…_

  
  


"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

Lyall removed the hat and placed it back on the stool. He allowed himself a slight smile as he walked to the Gryffindor table. Maybe it was good that he'd be in Gryffindor. Sirius was in there, after all.

Lyall paid attention to a few other people being sorted but mostly talked to Sirius, and Remus when he came over, and eventually James. The red-haired girl who had sat down nearby not long after him was eyeing him closely, and Lyall stuck his tongue out at her as Dumbledore began speaking, and she turned her head away with a huff. The feast began, and Lyall quickly went for beef and potatoes, leaving the pumpkin juice alone. He and Sirius ate in a composed manner, while James pigged out and Remus just ate normally. One of the girls nearby muttered something about Purebloods, but Lyall ignored her. When the main course cleared and dessert came, Lyall piled on as many things as he thought he could stomach, grabbing lemon tarts and a slice of chocolate cake, among other things. When everyone was finished, Dumbledore said some things about what was forbidden, and they were sent off to bed.

James and Sirius messed around the whole way upstairs to the common room, and nearly missed the password. This year there were only five Gryffindor first-year boys; himself, James, Sirius, Remus and a boy named Peter Pettigrew. Lyall found he was in the bed furthest from the door, while Peter was to the right of the door, Remus was between them, Sirius was on Lyall's other side, and James was to the left of the door. The bathroom, which was through a door between Lyall and Remus's beds, was a spacious room with a nicely sized bath walled off, a few shower stalls, and a few toilet stalls. There were six sinks all in a row, with a long mirror behind them all.

Lyall quickly changed in the bathroom and went back to the bedroom, putting his robes aside and climbing into bed. James and Sirius had started a pillow fight, and immediately tried to rope Lyall into it, but the blonde declined, practising the silencing spell on his curtains.

  
  


The next morning, they all woke up in varying states. Lyall had fallen asleep sitting up and had fallen into a tangle in the curtains around the bed, Sirius had fallen asleep in the middle of the room, Peter had fallen asleep next to his bed, Remus had fallen asleep at the bottom of his bed, and James had fallen asleep on Sirius's bed. They all got dressed quickly and navigated their way to the Great Hall, led by Lyall and Remus, who remembered the way.

After a delicious breakfast of mostly bacon and sausage for Lyall, as the full moon was approaching and his hunger for meat increased, the boys all made their way to their first class, Magic Theory.

James apparently found the class extremely boring, and Lyall would have agreed, except he actually found he liked it, about ten minutes in. He told James he'd let him copy off him later, and that seemed to settle it for the raven-haired boy, who started drawing on a piece of parchment.

Their next class was Transfiguration, which Lyall enjoyed immensely. He, James, and Sirius were among the first to transform their matches close to needles after McGonagall finished with her lecture. Of course, since she didn't say what _kind_ of needle, Lyall's matchstick turned into a rather pointy, wooden knitting needle when the thought popped into his head.

James had managed to make his matchstick silver and slightly pointy, and Sirius had turned his into more of a toothpick. _Needle_ ss to say, they were all immensely proud of themselves. Remus and Peter followed them to lunch, where Lyall again selected the meatiest things on the menu but added in some bread, cheese, and fruit because he wanted to.

Lyall ate as neatly as possible despite the fact he was practically ravenous, and James, once again, made a pig of himself. Evans, from down the table, gave the boy a look of disgust. When they were done, they ran off in a group, sticking together.

  
  


Lyall flopped onto his bed after his long, hot shower, sighing contentedly despite the growing discomfort in his bones. After a few seconds, three bodies dogpiled on him and he yelped, the wind knocked out of him. He shoved James, Sirius, and Peter off of him and brandished a pillow. They quickly grabbed up their own pillows and were soon mid pillow fight, when a Prefect entered through their open door.

"Canis, Lupin, Professor McGonagall wants to see you," the boy called, then walked off.

Lyall scrambled out from under Sirius's knee, knocking the boy over onto the bed in the process, and he and Remus quickly made their way down the stairs while James and Sirius called taunting words of "Oooh, you're in trouble!"

Lyall had an idea of what was going on and ignored them, and the two made their way to McGonagall's office. Upon their entrance, McGonagall looked up from papers and smiled.

"Misters Lupin and Canis, I need to speak with you about the arrangements. Follow me to the Hospital Wing, please," she said, sweeping out of the room with the two Gryffindors in tow.

They entered the wing, and were greeted by the Matron, Madam Pomfrey, and taken into her office.

"Now, boys, as I'm sure you are aware, you share a condition. For this reason, you will both be reporting to the Hospital Wing every full moon, for every day of effective full moon, and be taken to a location that we have prepared. It is a small house, with many protections on it."

"A whole _house?_ " Remus asked in what sounded like disbelief.

Lyall's thoughts echoed this slightly, but he'd had a medium-sized, furnished basement to himself during transformations at home.

"Of course, we weren't sure how much space the two of you would need, and locking you in a room didn't seem right," McGonagall replied.

"Wait, really? Cause I just got locked in my basement on full moons," Lyall told the women, and Remus made a noise of agreement.

"Well, there are two of you, and you'll only grow after this, so I think you'll need the space."

Lyall and Remus agreed. The Professor told them a few more things, such as that Madam Pomfrey would be treating them if they needed it afterwards, and they were brought back to Gryffindor tower and sent up to bed.

Lyall ran up to the dorm and immediately tackled Sirius and James, who were sitting on James's bed, talking. They let out shouts of surprise but noogied Lyall in retaliation, and the five dormmates all gathered in the centre of the room, talking about nothing for a while, then they had a small pillow fight and wound up falling asleep in a dogpile. It went without saying, they all trusted each other a lot.

  
  
  
  


"Canis, wake up!" someone jumping on the bed shouted, followed by another who also began jumping on the bed.

Lyall groaned, opening an eye and sticking a leg up to trip one of them, and both Sirius and James came crashing down on top of him. They started laughing, while Lyall grumbled and left to go take a quick shower to wake up and melt the pain out of his joints, Remus soon following to do the same in a separate stall.

They came out, one after the other, and James and Sirius got a good look at them. Their faces were paler than yesterday, and there were the beginnings of heavy shadows beneath their eyes. When asked, they waved it off, grabbing up their school bags and leading the way to the Great Hall again.

As it was their first day of flying class, of course, Lyall and Remus were very excited, along with the rest of their classmates. James and Sirius, who were exceptional fliers, were showing Remus and Peter what to do before class started, as they had come early to get the best brooms. When the teacher, Madam Hooch allowed them to begin the first part of the lesson, James, Sirius, Remus, and Lyall were the first to get their brooms in hand, and Peter and Evans were able to get their brooms into their hands after them.

They were given ample opportunity to practice flying, and Lyall, James, and Sirius flew a bit higher than the other students, confident in their flying abilities, having practised at home before coming to Hogwarts.

Lyall and Remus chatted about a Muggle book on the way back to the castle, while Sirius, James, and Peter talked about Quidditch ahead of them. They all made their way into the Great Hall to hang out and chat during their break, which was just before lunch. When other students started pouring into the hall, food appeared on the table.

In the middle of the meal, the five Gryffindors were surprised when a red envelope landed in front of Sirius, despite the mail owls coming during breakfast earlier. It was a Howler.

"Bloody hell," Sirius muttered, reaching out to open it.

"Cover your ears!"James cried, and Remus and Peter clapped their hands over their ears while Lyall simply shoved his index fingers in his ears.

Sirius opened the envelope and it smoked and hissed, before shrieking.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK, YOU BLOODY LITTLE DISGRACE, HOW _DARE_ YOU BE SORTED INTO GRYFFINDOR WITH ALL THE FILTHY BLOOD TRAITORS AND MUDBLOODS. YOU WILL REGRET THIS DECISION YOUNG MAN." It rambled angrily for a few minutes and then, with an ungodly screech, it tore itself up.

"Fuck you too, you old bat!" Sirius shouted, standing and storming out of the Great hall with tears in his eyes.

James, Lyall, Remus, and Peter shared a look, before scrambling to go after their friend. They found him up in the common room, glaring mutinously at the fireplace.

"Hey, Sirius," James called from across the room, walking over to sit next to him, the others in tow, sitting in a circle.

Sirius seemed slightly less upset now that they were there but only offered a grunt in reply. They sat around for a bit before Sirius calmed down enough to start ranting. He must have been furious to not have been talking that whole time.

Before dinner, Lyall pulled Remus aside to discuss their story and get it straight. They went with a shared chronic illness, which was pretty much the truth, and decided to tell their friends that sometimes it got really bad if they were asked.

With their story straight, the two of them headed to dinner, sitting directly across from James and Sirius, who were joking about some nonsense or other, and next to Peter, who was stuffing his face. Lyall grinned brightly, piling meat and vegetables onto his plate while Remus and Peter talked about an assignment they’d gotten.

“That’s a lot of food, mate,” James commented.

Lyall blinked, swallowing a mouthful of beef. “I’m hungry,” he replied with a shrug.

“How do you eat that much and still manage to look like you barely eat?” James asked incredulously.

Lyall’s face flushed and he mumbled incoherently, stabbing at the carrots on his plate while Sirius snickered. He quickly finished his plate, and when he went for seconds, James whispered: “How the hell?”

Lyall finished his second plate, moving it away and crossing his arms in front of him, before putting his head on them. When the others had finished eating, they went up to the common room, Lyall walking along ahead of them. As they made their way upstairs to their dorm, Lyall chattered excitedly about Quidditch and the winter match he’d be seeing when break rolled around, and James and Sirius joined in on the talking. Apparently, they’d all gotten some of the best seats for the game.

“And I have two extra tickets. My parents said I can give them to friends who want to come along,” Lyall said happily, looking Remus in the eyes.

“Oh! Can I come?” asked Peter from behind them.

“Sure, mate, I’d love to have you along,” Lyall replied, opening their dormitory door, crossing the room, and flopping onto his bed. “Remus, you want the other one?”

“I don’t know, my parents might not want me going somewhere without them.”

“That’s alright, plenty of time to suck up and ask ‘em,” the dirty-blonde replied cheerfully.

As the minutes ticked by and the boys talked and played games, Lyall looked increasingly more uncomfortable.

“Er, be right back,” he mumbled, going into the bathroom.

The others all shared looks, whispering quietly to each other, before sending Remus in to check on him. When Remus made his way into the bathroom, he saw Lyall bent over the sink, splashing water into his face and shaking.

"You alright?" Remus asked gently.

Lyall gripped the edges of the sink, trying to get the shaking under control. He opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it, shaking his head.

"What's wrong? Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?" Remus asked.

Lyall shook his head again, breathing sharply through his nose. Remus thought that he was looking a bit green, and crossed his arms sternly.

"Are you sure? Tell me the truth."

Lyall swallowed, opened his mouth, and then ran to one of the toilet stalls, bending over the bowl and retching. Remus sighed, opening the bathroom door and telling James to fetch Madam Pomfrey. The other boy gave a worried glance to the bathroom, but nodded and ran off down the stairs. Remus kept an eye on Lyall, who, after a few minutes, stopped retching and cleaned himself up. About twenty minutes later, James came up the stairs, followed by Madam Pomfrey.

The Matron tried to get Lyall to come down to the hospital wing, but the blonde kept insisting that he was perfectly fine and that even if he wasn't, it happened sometimes and he just needed to calm down and take a bath.

Remus was worried about this, but Lyall kept waving him off. Remus hoped he'd be alright and fell asleep worrying about the other boy.

  
  
  


The next day they went down to the dungeons after lunch for Potions, and Lyall kept scratching at his arms and flexing his fingers and fidgeting, and Remus wondered if he was alright. Remus himself had been having trouble keeping the smells and sounds of everything from getting to him, and Lyall seemed to keep grabbing at his ears and covering his nose.

When the Potions teacher, Professor Slughorn arrived, they were let into the classroom and Lyall immediately covered his nose with his cloak, trying to filter out the sudden scent of potions ingredients.

Lyall sat at a table with Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter, since there was an uneven number of students and only enough space for an even number, even though the desks appeared to be four to a table.

Slughorn greeted the class jovially, his belly bouncing with every step. "Good morning, class! I'll be taking role, but in the meantime, who can tell me what kind of potion this is?"

Five hands shot up, one after the other.

"Mister Canis, yes?"

Lyall removed his hand from his nose to answer. "It's a Cure for Boils, sir," he answered, before covering his nose again.

"Correct! Take a point to Gryffindor!" the man replied cheerfully, before going to his desk to get the role sheet.

Remus looked at Lyall, an eyebrow raised. Lyall tapped his nose. When Slughorn called Sirius's name, he looked excited.

"I had your parents when they were in school, you know! I was hoping you'd be in Slytherin as well, but you'll be a good influence on your Gryffindor classmates, I'm sure!"

And Lyall's name as well. "I knew your parents as well, my boy! Your mother was an excellent Potioneer, and your father was quite the Charmer, if you know what I mean." The man gave a full-bellied laugh at his own joke.

After quite a few names, Slughorn called James's. "Ah, yes! Good ol' Fleamont! How's your father's business going, Mister Potter?"

"Pretty good, sir," James replied brightly.

After that, Slughorn only commented on a few names, such as Mulciber and the other Purebloods.

Lyall looked pretty green by the end of the lesson (He got an 'Acceptable'), and Remus had to carefully steer him to the nearest toilet, with James, Sirius, and Peter in tow.

"You sure you don't need to go to the Hospital Wing, mate?" James asked as Lyall washed his face.

"Yeah, 's just strong smells is all."

"You can't handle strong smells?" Sirius asked, to clarify.

Lyall hummed in affirmation. "Gives me headaches, really bad ones. I used to stay in the brewing room when my mum brewed potions, but I stopped being able to when I was around four or five. She told me that one day I threw up in the potion trying to help her make it and it nearly exploded the cauldron."

James and Sirius snickered at the story, and the group of them left the bathroom, heading to History of Magic, which was so dreadfully dull that Lyall found it easy to calm down and take a nap. Remus woke him up at the end of the lesson.

After class, Remus pulled him aside to talk alone. "So you were five when it happened?"

"'Bout that age, yeah," Lyall replied.

"I was too," Remus murmured.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. How come you're more sensitive than I am?" Remus asked hesitantly.

"'Cording to my mum, I've always been sensitive. She said I didn't really talk much until I was two, but I was loud when something bothered me. Said I was a bit of an odd kid. My brother, Conan, is sensitive too, but not as much as me because he wasn't… infected," Lyall replied.

Remus wasn't sure how to respond to that, he'd never had siblings before. He thought about it for a moment, then nodded and pulled the other werewolf along to the common room.

  
  
  


As was typical of the day before the full moon, which this month would be on Sunday, Remus woke up warm and uncomfortable, feeling discomfort deep in his bones. He knew, as he always did, that he would get more uncomfortable as the day wore on, and would develop a fever the closer the day of the full moon was. This time, he knew, would be quite different. He could smell the pain radiating off Lyall the moment he woke up, and knew that Lyall would likely be bedridden until they transformed the next day, under the light of the moon.

Remus slowly dragged himself from the bed, noticing that James and Sirius had already left the room. He could hear their voices down in the common room. Peter, on the other hand, was sitting on his own bed, reading his Herbology textbook.

"Morning, Peter," Remus greeted, his voice sounding probably rougher than it should.

"Morning, Remus," Peter replied, looking up from his book. "You look awful, mate. You feeling alright?"

Remus gave a weak smile. "I'm okay. Any of you tried to wake Lyall yet?"

Peter shook his head.

Remus nodded. "Alright, well, I'll do it, I suppose," he sighed, moving towards the other boy's four-poster and knocking on the wood of the bedframe.

There was a groan from the inside, followed by the sound of covers moving, and a slight whine of pain that drew Peter's attention away from his book once more. The curtains drew back and a scarred arm reached out to grab at the post to help the person to whom it belonged to stand.

Lyall practically fell out of bed, his eyes shut tightly against the headache he probably had, his senses amplified tenfold. Remus thought that the dirty-blonde had probably been able to smell emotions and feelings for a few days now, and it was probably hell on his brain at the moment.

Peter put his book down and rushed over. It was obvious that the small, round boy had a strong parental instinct for those around him, and the boy instructed Remus to help get Lyall standing properly.

"You look worse than Remus does. Do you have a headache again?" Peter asked softly, making sure to keep his voice low, just in case.

Lyall nodded, his eyes staying closed.

"Do you need me to take you to the toilet?" the mousey boy asked, as gentle as possible.

Lyall shook his head, the movement barely perceptible. He whispered something, his voice barely a whisp, but Remus heard it.

"You want to go _outside?_ Are you sure, Ly?" the nickname tumbled from Remus's mouth without even a thought, but it clicked into place, as many things would in the future.

Lyall nodded again, and Peter went downstairs to ask the others in the common room to quiet down until they got their dormmate out of the common room, and asking Sirius and James to help get the boy downstairs. Each of the tall boys hooked an arm under Lyall's, guiding him down the stairs and through the halls, and out onto the grounds, where orange, red, and yellow leaves spun in the air and lay on the ground, and sat him down under a tree by the black lake.

The golden-eyed boy had seemed to relax as they moved from the castle, and when they got to the tree, he was already beginning to fall into a peaceful sleep. The other boys resolved to spend the rest of the day outside with Lyall, lazing about in the cool Autumn air for the rest of their Saturday.

About halfway through the day, Lyall began to shiver, and Remus began to sweat a few minutes later. Peter had noticed that both of them were looking progressively worse through the day, and when James and Sirius came running back from the Great Hall with a large amount of food for the lot of them for lunch, he made sure that Lyall and Remus ate quite a bit. Lyall seemed quite opposed to the idea, especially when Peter made him eat a bit of bread and some vegetables, but Remus practically wolfed down his food after slight prompting.

Once they'd eaten, they lazed about for a while longer, practising the few spells they'd learned so far. Lyall had fallen asleep almost immediately after eating, and Remus wound up falling asleep with his head on Peter's shoulder a while later. When the two of them woke up, they found themselves in the hospital wing, with Sirius and James playing wizards chess next to them quietly, and Peter studying their few already taught lessons next to them as if his life depended on it.

Lyall whined at the sound of the shifting pages and the pieces on the board moving, and the sounds immediately stopped. He was reminded of one of his bursts of accidental magic when he'd silenced the entire manor two days after the full moon, rather close to his eighth birthday. This time, however, his friends had simply stopped what they were doing, making an effort to be quiet. Lyall was glad for this and mumbled his thanks.

Madam Pomfrey, the Matron, bustled over, carrying a bottle of fever-reducing potion and a cup full of tea. Lyall didn't much care for tea and muttered his dissent quite a bit more loudly than he may have intended. Madam Pomfrey gave a long-suffering sigh and simply asked Lyall to drink some of the potion, before moving on to Remus.

Lyall downed the potion, then got Sirius's attention. After a quick round of charades, in which Lyall covered his ears and pointed at the privacy screen, the boy got Sirius to cast the silencing charm on the screen and close it around the bed. He got a little bit more sleep in and asked if he could go back to the dorms, which Madam Pomfrey allowed reluctantly. She had the other boys help Lyall and Remus up to Gryffindor Tower, and they spent the rest of the day in their dorm, with James and Peter going down to the Great Hall to get dinner.

Lyall barely ate anything but the steak they brought up, and only ate some of it. He wasn't very hungry, and in the days before a moon, he usually found it hard to eat anything but meat. He noticed Remus didn't eat much of anything at all at first and told him that if Lyall had to eat, so did he. After eating, Lyall and Remus went to bed, their friends keeping an eye on them.

  
  
  


The morning of the full moon, Lyall woke up to bone splitting agony, and a gentle, cold hand shaking him awake.

"Canis, c'mon. I'm taking you to the hospital wing. You're worse than you were yesterday."

Lyall didn't know who said the words, but nodded, allowing himself to be pulled into a sitting position, and then lifted onto his feet. The next part was a blur, but Lyall recognized James and Sirius's voices, and Remus's ruffled brown hair, as well as Peeves cackling. And then he was waking up being lifted up in someone's arms, someone else's footsteps stumbling towards him. He was suddenly wide awake, watching as Madam Pomfrey carried him across the grounds to the Whomping Willow. When she put him down, he assured her he could go through the tunnel on his own, and crawled through the narrow passage, Remus right behind him.

When the moon rose, Lyall felt his bones preparing to shift, and when the sun set, two screams rang out through the shabby shack they were in.


End file.
